On October 5, Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-CA) introduced along with Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA), HR 3641 the “Health Insurance for Former Foster Youth Act of2015.” The bill mirrors Senate legislation, S 1852, by Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) that would fix what most agree is a technical hang-up in the ACA. The ACA requires states, regardless
The Child Welfare League of America led by President and CEO of CWLA Christine James-Brown brought a delegation of child welfare agencies to Cuba to exchange information and approaches regarding child and family well-being. “We are excited to learn about the resilience of families and how they manage without a child welfare system in place,”
This past week Montana Governor Steve Bullock announced a plan to improve child protection and child welfare services. The announcement comes against a backdrop of increasing state foster care numbers and a threat by HHS to cut-off CAPTA funds if the state does not come into compliance with that law’s federal requirements on disclosure of
The Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities has been holding a series of deliberation calls to settle on recommendations that have the potential to be wide ranging in their impact on state child protective services and child welfare systems. The Commission established by Congress at the end of 2012 (Protect Our Kids Act
Last week the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report on the issue of unregulated custody transfers what some in the news media have labeled as "rehoming." The GAO report, Steps Have Been Taken to Address Unregulated Custody Transfers of Adopted Children was undertaken at the request of Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) and Congressman Jim
The Child Welfare and Supportive Housing Resource Center brought together participants from five place-based initiative sites to discuss the progress of their new efforts. The pilots are attempting to better assist child welfare involved families through an intensive approach that combines supportive housing and human services in an effort to keep families together. The five
New data by the Census Bureau released on Wednesday showed a significant drop in the percentage of people without health insurance. According to the new census report, the percentage of people without health insurance coverage decreased between 2013 and 2014 by 3.0 percent (actual 2.9 percent). The data is based on the Bureau’s American Community
A briefing, Smart Investments: Keeping Kids and Communities Safe, Reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act was held on Thursday, September 17 to encourage congressional action on a reauthorization of the JJDPA. A number of groups including Coalition for Juvenile Justice, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court
With Congress likely to be discussing appropriations into December there is time for a number of issues and in some cases Congress will have to act. One possibility that was mentioned in early August by Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) is a mark-up of child welfare legislation. That is still uncertain and contingent on
Just before the Senate departed for their summer break they gave approval to Rafael J. Lopez as the new Commissioner for the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF). Lopez was confirmed on August 5th, after having been formally nominated by President Obama in January 2015. Lopez will fill a position that has been vacant